Shipping Update on New Bike Arrival

Delayed!

We did our best to try and have all our new bikes ready for this years holiday season, however, with all the craziness surrounding our new import tariff's our little bikes have been delayed till after the Christmas holiday.  However, for those willing to wait we are offering an additional 10% off anyone who pre-orders a bike and we'll send out a care package to put under the tree.  Use Code PREPELLOHOLIDAY before 12/18 to receive the 10% discount and get a cool care package for under the tree (care package consists of 1 custom print + a Kickstand).  Bikes are expected to begin shipping 12/28.

Pello History - A quick note from founder Shane Cusick

Opportunity; when does it knock?  For some all the time for most of us every so often.

 I (Shane) saw a unique opportunity to create something special.  What it took was hard work and perseverance.  Prior to the official launch in May it took 4 years to develop the bikes.  Why 4 years?  It takes time for any startup to get going, especially while maintaining my fulltime job with Bike Virginia, keeping up with the kids and life in general, let alone taking on a project of creating something as special as Pello from scratch. 

 Throughout the 4 years we took our time and went through several various manufactures before selecting one that could produce the type of bike we were looking for.  I was new to the manufacturing side of bikes (prior experience was in designing, retail, non-profit and riding bikes) and quickly found out in my first visit to the Taipei Cycle Show that there are many, many choices for bicycle manufactures.  We quickly discovered that not all manufactures are created equal.  We unearthed this when we actually received our very first set of prototypes.

I was so excited when I knew they first set was coming.  There was a blizzard heading our way here in Richmond and I had to meet the truck driver in a grocery store parking lot because he didn’t want to get stuck trying to find us.  What I discovered in that first set of prototypes was not good.  They were not at all what we specified, nor was the quality and attention to detail near where we wanted. In fact hey are still in our basement looking for “no” homes (we do not want those in the world).  Luckily we didn’t have all our eggs in that basket and had other suppliers in the hopper.  Though it wasn’t perfect and still needed refinement, we knew we had the right manufacture when it showed up at our door.  The quality of the frame building was there, looking at the bones of the bike (welds and overall build quality), we had the raw materials so to speak we just needed to hone it into the perfect bike.  That “honing” ended up taking us 4 years! 

 So that was just the beginning, now that we had a quality manufacture it was time to really get into the details of creating our bikes.  We went through 3 full sets of prototypes before we finally were happy with how they turned out.  Sometimes I felt like we would never cross the finish line, but we kept at it and when people would ask “how’s the bike business coming?” I would just say, it’s going great, with a smile, knowing that things would eventually work out.

 As time and prototypes passed the bikes kept getting better and better and our test riders enjoyed them more and more, they would give us valuable feedback (as much as 3-8 year olds can) that we would incorporate into the bikes.   Since we couldn’t ride the bikes ourselves (we were way to big) this feedback was essential.  We would watch how they rode, taking photos and comparing riding positions over various prototypes.  We consulted experts in bike fitting, bike building and bike mechanics.  We put the bikes through every kind of test you can think of to hone them into what we believe is not just a great bike but the Ultimate Kids Bike.

 Since our launch in May our little bikes have put smiles on lots of kid’s faces and it is so great to see our bikes out in the wild.  In fact I love seeing them out and about with scratches, nicks, mud, cool stickers and seeing they are holding up and their little owners are really using them and loving them as much as we do.  Check out our facebook page for an awesome image of a Romper with a baby doll kids seat attached on its back.  I almost get emotional when I see the parents expression when their little one starts riding for the first time at one of our events while testing out a bike on our test track.

 I saw the opportunity and have continued to make sure we aren’t wasting it.  As Pello moves into the future we will continue to refine and develop the bikes, the bike you see today is a result of seizing an opportunity and making it into a reality.  We will continue to create better bikes specifically for kids, that is Pello and that is what Pello means to us. 

Safe Routes To School

New Bike(s) day for the children at Ginter Park Elementary School!

We are so happy to be part of such a good program that enables our little bikes to be part of school curriculum.  Fit4Kids is a non-profit organization that works to obtain local and state grants to make riding to school safer and teach children best practices for riding bikes to and from school.  Through the wonderful Fit4Kids program, teachers like Brent pictured below now have a complete set of bikes to use in his classes! 

More info about the programs can be found via the links below.

http://grfit4kids.org/

http://grfit4kids.org/what-we-do/safe-routes-schools/

http://www.virginiadot.org/programs/ted_Rt2_school_pro.asp

https://www.facebook.com/RVASRTS/

This is Brent and he now has a full set of bikes to teach children how to ride safely!

This is Brent and he now has a full set of bikes to teach children how to ride safely!

New retail shop for the holidays

We will have a new shop during the holiday season where you can come by and test ride a bike and take one home with you!  

The new shop is located in the Stony Point Fashion Park Complex, please see below for address info and hours.  Hope to see you there!

Friday 5-9pm, Saturday 12-9pm and Sunday 12-6pm

9200 Stony Point Pkwy, Richmond, VA 23235

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Our New Home

We've moved!  We loved our old warehouse but it was just getting too small, so we moved about a mile west. Our new location will have room to grow and develop/design new pello's all with the goal to get more kids on great bikes!

 

Where we'll be in 2017!

This is where we'll be this year, come out and ride with us!

Photo: Dirt Rag Magazine

Photo: Dirt Rag Magazine

May 5-6 - Bike Expo New York, Manhattan, NY

May 18-21 - Dirt Rag Dirt Fest, Raystown, PA

June 23-28 - Bike Virginia Tour, Lexington, VA

August 18-20 - Outerbike, Crested Butte, CO

August 24-27 - Hotter Than Hell 100, Wichita Falls, TX

October 13-15 - Go Outside Festival, Roanoke, VA

November 4-5 - Philly Bike Expo, Philadelphia, PA

 

How to measure your child's inseam

When thinking about bike sizes it's often difficult to know just how the bike will fit.  What we've found is that the inseam measurement is possibly one of the best determining factor in getting the correct fit.  

A good rule of thumb for little one's just starting out or if they are a tad timid is to have their feet flat on the ground while seated on the saddle.  This translates to a saddle height that matches their inseam.  However, if your little one is already riding and shows confidence then having the seat height about 2-2.5" above their inseam may be a better fit and will allow them to grow into the bike a bit longer.

Please check out the chart below for a good way to measure the inseam properly.